Uber reports solid earnings, mixed guidance

Uber reported largely solid earnings this morning, posting revenue of $13.5 billion compared with the FactSet analyst consensus of $13.28 billion and up 20% from a year earlier. The company reported earnings per share of $3.11 versus the expected $0.69, but this includes a $4.9 billion boost to net income from a tax valuation release and another $1.5 billion (pretax) lift from revaluations of its equity investments. Adjusted EBITDA of $2.26 billion was a touch shy of estimates for the quarter.

Gross bookings, or what customers spent on rides, delivery orders, and freight, grew to $49.7 billion, up 21% from last year and higher than analysts’ expectations of $48.95 billion.

However, shares are down in premarket trading as guidance was mixed: while Uber sees gross bookings in Q4 ranging from $52.25 billion to $53.75 billion, ahead of consensus, that isn’t translating into the kind of profitability the Street was expecting. The midpoint of its adjusted EBITDA range of $2.41 billion to $2.51 billion for Q4 is below the consensus estimate for $2.49 billion, per analysts polled by Bloomberg.

During the company’s earnings call this morning, investors will be looking for more details on the company’s robotaxi rollout. Shares of both Uber and EV partner Lucid jumped last week after the two announced their first robotaxi market would be San Francisco, where Google’s Waymo is currently operating.